A Mission of Trust
by Elvenwannabe
Summary: A story of two Azuma ninjas fighting through more than just their own mortals to gain each other's trust after a horrible event. SPOILERS INSIDE! M rated for a reason in later chapters. Ayame x Rikimaru


A/N: After playing some Tenchu: Shadow Assassins, I sorta got some new ideas. And don t worry to any of you who have been waiting for me to update some of my other stories. I will update them just as soon as I get the muse to finish them. XD Ahem- ANYWAYS! This will be a sexual story, so for anyone who doesn t like these types I suggest that you find something else to read. =p Also! This takes place after the game. WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN HERE! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the mere plot of this story. If I did own Tenchu, Ayame and Rikimaru would have already be having ninja babies by now! So with that said, please enjoy. ^^

So many years of trust...gone. Like the many lives that they ve killed over the countless years under the orders of their Lord Goda. A well trained ninja understands that emotion in general only cloud s one s choices when dealing with situations, both off and on the field of battle.  
However this very fact doesn t stop Ayame and Rikimaru doubt their partnership now as fellow Azuma ninja. With a rouge ninja s taking both of their appearances, making one thinking the other was a traitor. When in fact they were only players in a sick game in hopes that they would kill each other.

With princess Kiku now gone, Ayame couldn t even stomach being in the same room as the silver haired ninja. Though she swallowed her pride shortly after the flames were put out on the castle of her lord. It took what soldiers were left and both of the ninja s to put the high flames out, not to mention the few days to repair all the damage. Though before any of the repairs were to be done, there was a funeral to be had.

With a heavy heart, Lord Goda arranged the ceremony for his only heir before the public. Though he did not blame Rikimaru for his actions nor mentioned the true reason as to why his beloved daughter was taken away from him forever, he cursed his enemies and swore that they would all pay for taking the last bit of happiness out of his life and that they would have the wrath of heaven upon them. Rikimaru and Ayame attended the ceremony, but of course, were hidden from the public eye. As it was agreed as becoming a tool and weapon whenever their lord commanded them.

Hiding behind some of the walls of the great hall where the ceremony was being held, the two ninja s watched as kingdom gave their prayers to Lord Goda and Heaven, hoping for better times. The silver haired shinobi sighed softly as he was still shaken from the events that had happen the day before, Rikimaru watched with sorrow filled eyes. Princess Kiku was like a little sister he never had. Even if she did have a smile on her face as she died that smile haunted him more than anyone else that had been unlucky to have been on the other side of his blade.

Glancing over at the raven haired female beside him that also kept watch, Rikimaru could tell just by glancing at her features that she was fighting with emotions inside of her. And as much as he dreaded hearing another tongue lashing from her, it might just be what she needed. Yes, they were ninja...but they were human as well. Which over all meant they could only hold in so much before they snapped.

There was one thing that came to mind to get her to open up, but it was risky. Sighing in defeat, the silver haired ninja knew what he had to do. All that he needed was the right time to do so.

=-=-=-=-=-= It was now a few hours after the funeral, and the two ninja s were allowed to have at least a few nights for mourning. So, since they had no missions for a while, Ayame found herself in the training room that Lord Goda had for her and Rikimaru to hone their skills. Oddly enough, it was one of the few rooms that didn t have very much damage due to the blazing fires. The most that was missing were just a few weapons. But that didn t bother her too much. She needed something to punch. And HARD.

With that said, she glared at one of the torn up dummies and started to punch and kick the dummy in various places. Ayame was only there for roughly a half hour before she halted her next punch, closing her eyes while taking a deep breath though kept her fist clenched, clearly not happy for the interruption from her training as she felt Rikimaru nearby.

What do YOU want?! Come to murder me as well? Or am I not worthy enough to die by your blade, Rikimaru? Ayame half growled at the silver haired ninja before turning around, opening her eyes to see said ninja with his arms cross over his chest, returning the glare with his mask still up.

You know that I value too much as a comrade to kill you, Ayame. So don t even suggest such a thing, He calmly replied, doing his best not to have his anger flare onto her.

Ohh! So I m valuable to you now?! What about Kiku, huh?!

He let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head, You know damn well how I feel about her. I didn t even /want/ to kill her. If there was another way

Oh sure, spill out more of your lame excuses. I /trusted/ you damnit! She moved her head to the side, glaring at the floor, not wanting to even dare look into the silver haired male s eyes as she whispered her next choice of words, I thought we had something

Rikimaru watched so many emotions go through Ayame s features, but he kept quiet for the moment. Having known Ayame for so many years, he knew that she wasn t far from done with speaking her mind. As soon as that thought ran through his mind, he saw Ayame glare deadly daggers at him.

Take out your sword Rikimaru. She ordered taking out her own twin blades while getting into a fighting position.

The silver haired male watched her carefully as he slowly unsheathed his blade and made a similar fighting stance to what Ayame had. Ayame we don t have to do this.

Shut-up and fight me damn it! Ayame yelled as she charged at him. Being the top skilled men that Lord Goda had and the head of the Azuma clan, Rikimaru had no problem blocking her assault. He then placed his weight towards his blade, pushing Ayame away from his blade and breaking the weapon lock they were in.

With sadden eyes, Rikimaru sighed before getting into a stance once again. Fine. Have it your way. He whispered in reply, now seeing a sadistic smirk on Ayame s lips that seemed out of place. I just hope this doesn t destroy you like it did me Ayame.. Rikimaru thought as he charged at the other ninja with a heavy heart, striking strong blows to her blades.

His goal was to get her off balance, then knock the blades out of Ayame s hands. But this seemed to be harder than he thought. Ayame met every one of his blows with a powerful counter hit. However, as the fight continued, he noticed that some of her moves were starting get sloppy. Most likely because she was placing her pent up anger guide her blows. Taking this as a perfect time to strike, the silver haired ninja used a few more powerful blows of his own to the other ninja while cornering her into a wall. The flat of his blade now pinning her body to the wall as her own blades now lay on the ground, broken in half by her own strength against his.

Both ninjas were breathing heavily, looking deep into the other s glaring eyes. Go ahead and do it. Ayame dared him as she wondered if he had the guts to kill her. Rikimaru narrowed his eyes and took a step back, sheathing his weapon.

If you want to end your life so bad, use your own blade. It s more honorable than to die by mine. He spat before turning his heel to leave her, though stopped at the sound of her voice.

So that s it then? Hmp, typical.

Rikimaru glanced up at the ceiling that had many holes and sighed softly, actually grateful for a little bit of a breeze in the small training room. This woman will be the death of me.. he thought before turning halfway to face the still glaring ninja against the wall. I know you are going through a hard time Ayame, we all are but we both know that the princess wouldn t want us to fight against each other. Rikimaru told her with a hint of anger in his voice.

Ayame chuckled ironically at his reply and crossed her arms over his chest, That never stopped you before. Or do you not remember..?

Only because I feared you to be a rouge in disguise. They /wanted/ us to fight against each other. To lose our trust in each other and to raise havoc within the Kingdom. I would ve hoped that you of all people would have figured that one out. He replied in a tired voice that expressed how stressed he was about this topic.

Ayame thought on his words and merely pushed herself off the wall to go and retrieved what was left of her weapons once again and sheathed them in her back hoisters. She then glanced up at what was left of the ceiling and sighed softly herself. The female ninja wanted to trust Rikimaru again so badly even if it was a small bit of trust. But how? She knew he was right, even though she hated to admit it.

With the look of her eyes now softening slightly, Ayame turned back to the silver haired ninja that was watching her carefully. His own eyes softening towards her, though he kept his guard up just in case she wanted to attack him again. Thankfully, she didn t. Instead, Ayame frowned and crossed her arms over her chest before speaking to him.

I normally don t apologize. But, I ll admit that I ve been acting rash towards you I guess with everything all scrambled up, my head isn t on straight right now. She admitted, hating this feeling of utter chaos inside of her mind.

Rikimaru nodded and slowly walked up to her, I know. I think that s why we are on leave for a little while. For the first time in many years, he pulled down his mask, allowing Ayame the rare pleasure of seeing his face. Seeing him without his mask on earned Rikimaru a small smile on Ayame s lips.

Ayame nodded in agreement of his statement. If either of them went on a mission now, no doubt would they have clouded judgment. So what now?

We can try to rebuild our trust in each other but only if you want to. With simple things.

Interested in this option, Ayame nodded once again, Alright. It won t be easy though

He chuckled and gave her a small smile, I know. Your heart needs to learn forgiveness first before you can trust me again. For the sake of our Lord, we need to rebuild our trust. Rikimaru extended his hand to her, hoping she would take it. With a small sigh leaving her lips, Ayame reluctantly extend her hand, taking his in her own. I hate it when you are right sometimes, Rikimaru. She replied with more of a small smile on her lips.

He rose a silver eye brow at her, slightly amused at her choice of words as he felt how warm her hand felt in his own. After all these years, your pride never seizes to amaze me. He earned a light chuckle from her as he watched her smile transform into a smirk.

I m sure that isn t the only thing about me that would surprise you. Even after all these years She replied, slowly shifting her hand in his so their fingers were intertwined with each other. This didn t go unnoticed by the silver haired ninja as he tilted his head slightly, looking into her eyes.

Ayame..? Rikimaru knew that his fellow ninja had a little child crush on him and his late brother. But due to the current situation, even small infatuations were dangerous.

Ayame lifted her spare hand and placed her fingers on his lips. Just don t. If I m going to try and trust you I might as well do it my way. Even if I might regret it in the end. But I ll never know until I try.

That could have gone worst. Though of all times for her to try something like this The silver haired shinobi sighed once again that evening while still holding on to her hand. I learned the hard way that once you ve made up your mind, you are pretty stubborn to change. So I m not going to even bother convincing you otherwise. But before you do anything foolish, just know that I never wanted or intended for things to go so sour between us Ayame.

She chuckled softly, now tilting her own head slightly, You gonna talk my ear off all night or are you going to kiss me? Ayame challenged him as she tried to work on breaking the tense air around them.

Taking the invitation, Rikimaru quickly pulled Ayame close to his body while wrapping his spare arm around her waist and gave Ayame the kiss she wanted. Though surprising enough, as their lips clashed against one another, the silver haired shinobi felt a small flame inside spark for his fellow Azuma ninja. This strange sort of yearning feeling towards Ayame only grew as he felt her smirk between their lips and slowly started to break the link between their hands as both of her hands snaked up Rikimaru s arms till they reached his firm shoulders.

Not wanting to get too lost in this surprising moment of slight passion, Rikimaru slowly broke the kiss. To his amusement, he heard a slight disappointed whine come from Ayame s lips. With their lips now parted and both of their eyes only open slightly as their foreheads touching.

True, they knew that they both had to work on their trust. But deep down, they knew that they needed to slow down before disaster fell upon both of them. No matter how much their bodies screamed for them to continue their passionate movements towards each other.

Though they stated like this for several moments, Rikimaru was the first to speak in a low voice so he wouldn t startle Ayame, Ayame

Just the mere mention of her name from his lips sent shivers through her spine. She didn t show this but merely shifted her head slightly so she could get a better look at the silver haired ninja that held her with the upmost of care. Hm..?

Answer me truthfully if you can have you taken anyone into your bedroll before? Though an awkward question, it was one that was quite important and would decide his next move.

Ayame thankfully, understood why Rikimaru asked and it made her smile and shake her head. No one has been worthy enough. Well. There is but he doesn t seem to be the cuddling-in-bed type. she replied with a light playful chuckle in her voice.

Ah, there s the Ayame I used to know took her long enough. He thought as light smirk formed on Rikimaru s lips while he tilted his head slightly and looked into her eyes, Oh, you might be surprised. He might. Have you asked him? he replied right back in a similar playful manner that she replied to him while trailing his hand that was once around her waist up and down the length of Ayame s back.

She returned the smirk and playfully thought about it, Hm, no not really. Though I think I should. I kinda really want to see him lay next to me shirtless one of these nights.

This lovely reply from her earned a nice low chuckle from Rikimaru. What is it with women and shirtless guys?

It feels nice and doesn t look all that bad either. But I could ask the same thing with guys and shirtless girls. She threw back at him with her smirk still on her lips, now feeling a little more relaxed than she did a few minutes ago.

Good point. So, who s the guy you had in mind? he inquired raising a silver brow at her, though had a good idea who it might be.

Ayame shook her head and trailed one of her hands that was on his shoulder up to the back of his neck as a small sigh left her lips. Can t figure it out on your own, huh? It s you. she slightly confessed biting her lower lip, hoping he wouldn t think it would be bad.

Though to her amazement, Rikimaru used his spare hand to brush her cheek with his bare knuckles so gently that it almost feels like a feather touch, but with a surprising amount of warmth behind it. I had a feeling. There s no reason you should be ashamed of it, Ayame. In fact it just might help us in our little situation.

She gave him a questioning look before he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and broke their embrace with a wide smirk. Rikimaru..?

All will be answered in due time Ayame. Meet me in west wing in roughly a half hour. I ll explain everything then. With that said, he quickly pulled up his mask and disappeared in a white poof of smoke. Leaving a very confused, and slightly sexually frustrated Ayame.

A/N : So, that was chapter one. Chapter two will come soon. Let me know what you all think. ^^ 


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